Reactions to the Sussexes interview with Oprah

PETER WESTMACOTT, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you, Christiane, for having me on. Of course, we don’t yet know quite what the impact will be. But we do recall that some of the very big interviews that Prince Charles gave and Princess Diana did make an impact and there were shockwaves for some time. And it’s obviously clear from the reactions that there have been to this two-hour program that there will be reverberations. I think, how will the family react? I suspect many members won’t actually watch this. That’s quite often what happens in the royal family. My guess is, there will be a degree of hurt that there is a personal nature to some of these criticisms. And, of course, let’s remember that in most families the opportunity to work out your personal difficulties is there in private. And here we have a lot of this laid bare, one side of a story. And that’s always a painful thing to do. And it’s a particularly painful thing to do when you are the most public family in the country, if not in the world, and where you have a very strong sense of your own duty and responsibility to discharge your public duties, and, hopefully not normally, to have all your private affairs made public. So, obviously, there will be an impact. But I think also that the inclination, especially for the monarch who has been on the throne as long as she has to see it all, will be just to get on with life.

AMANPOUR: OK, that’s interesting. I wondered whether you thought maybe, given the nature of the allegations, for instance, about racism, that they might be forced to put out some kind of statement to address some of those. Let me just play this sound bite, which by now everybody has seen and people are digesting. And it was pretty shocking when it landed on Oprah’s lap. Let’s just play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKLE: In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we have, in tandem, the conversation of, he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.

OPRAH WINFREY, PRODUCER/PHILANTHROPIST: What? There’s a conversation with you?

MARKLE: With Harry.

WINFREY: About how dark your baby is going to be?

MARKLE: Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Well, I mean, you can see the visible shot from Oprah, who’s pretty much seen and heard it all. What did you feel when you just listen to that?

WESTMACOTT: A couple of points, Christiane. The first thing I would say is that, thinking back to the wedding not a little bit less than three years ago, I saw the way the prince of Wales walked Meghan down the aisle, so to speak, at Windsor Castle, because her own father wasn’t there, was a splendid gesture of welcome. And I sensed at the time — in fact, I know at the time, he could not have been happier for them.